Detour Gold could hedge if bullion price falls further -CEO

TORONTO, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Detour Gold Corp would consider using a hedging strategy if the price of gold drops from current levels, the Canadian gold miner's interim Chief Executive Paul Martin said on Tuesday.

The board of directors has given approval for management to hedge up to 50 percent of the output from its Detour Lake gold mine in northern Ontario, if circumstances require such action, said Martin, speaking along the sidelines of the TD Securities Mining Conference in Toronto.

Martin, who was named interim chief executive in November, said Detour does not have a set gold price at which it would deploy such a strategy. But he said that the company is constantly assessing the situation. He stressed that any hedging strategy, if used, would be very short term in nature.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha and Allison Martell; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

((euan.rocha@thomsonreuters.com)(+1 416 941 8185)(Reuters Messaging: euan.rocha.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: DETOURGOLD HEDGING/